This invention relates to bucket teeth generally and in particular to a replaceable point for such teeth.
Earth digging and moving equipment such as shovels, drag lines, trenchers, backhoes, and loaders all use bucket-shaped containers to dig and move dirt, ore, and the like. These buckets have front lips that have teeth spaced along and attached to the lips. These teeth are subjected to the erosive effect of the materials being dug or moved and, depending upon the material, have a relatively short life. As a consequence, present-day teeth are made up of several different parts. First, there is an adapter that is attached to the lip of the bucket. The adapter includes a nose that is shaped to fit a cavity in a replaceable point that is attached to the adapter. The point is generally wedge-shaped and provides the relatively sharp forward end of the tooth. Usually, the exposed part of the adapter is covered by wear caps so that the adapter is protected from the abrasive effects of the material being handled. The point and wear caps are replaceable and they are expected to take the wear.
Tooth points are presently and have always been made of cast steel. Cast metal is inherently brittle and is subject to failure from impact loading. Castings often contain hidden flaws that can cause premature failure. With the alloys presently used to cast tooth points, welding on the points is not recommended. Consequently, they cannot be hard-surfaced with tungsten carbide and the like to improve the wear resistance of the point.
It is an object of this invention to provide a point for an earth digging and moving bucket tooth that is made of rolled steel and therefore has the strength and wear resistance of any of the available steels on the market. Such a tooth point can then be provided with selected hard facing that will greatly increase the ability of the tooth to resist wear and thereby extend the life of the tooth point.
It is a further object and advantage of this invention to provide an all steel replaceable point for connecting to an adapter to form a bucket tooth for an earth digging and moving bucket that includes a plurality of flat-sided rolled steel plates that are arranged in side-by-side alignment with the contour of the end walls of the plates forming the shape of a tooth point.
These and other objects, advantages, and features of this invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from a consideration of this specification including the attached drawings and appended claims.